


The Glass

by gingergenower



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, F/F, F/M, Light Angst, post 2x15
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-10-05 04:09:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10297148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingergenower/pseuds/gingergenower
Summary: After the events of 2x15, Kara realises she's surrounded by people with lives that are full to bursting.





	

**Author's Note:**

> because the line ‘maybe being Supergirl and having you is enough’ rubbed me up the wrong way

The bar’s blown out windows are boarded up, the glass is swept away and the broken furniture’s stacked up on one side of the room. Technically, it’s closed, but it isn’t empty or quiet.

Mon-El counts losses with the owner behind the bar, but the group’s gathered around two tables shoved together on the other side of the room. Winn’s got his arm slung across the back of Lyra’s seat and she’s draped one of her legs over his, giggling at something he’s saying. Maggie debates vigilantism with James, mostly playful. Under the music Winn set up on his laptop, hacking into a nearby Wi-Fi system and hooking his portable speakers up, Alex talks to Kara.

“You shouldn’t quit,” she says, but Kara shakes her head.

“No publication in the city is going to go near me now. It’s fine, I’m-” Kara glances at Lyra, but she’s lost in Winn’s eyes. “I’m _her_ , and there’s so much going on, I don’t know, my life’s chaotic, maybe it’s better this way.”

Taking Kara’s hand deliberately slow, Alex waits until Kara looks her in the eye to talk. “That’s utter crap. Supergirl is not everything you are, no matter how much you love it. You love being a reporter too, you can’t give up on it. You should freelance or something.”

Stomach churning, lump in her throat, Kara can’t hold her stare and pulls her hand free, hitching her glasses back up her nose. “No one will publish me.”

“Then keep posting your stuff online. Make sure you only post stuff Snapper would publish, get noticed as a reputable source in your own right,” Alex shrugs, taking a swig of Maggie’s beer. Her own bottle’s empty.

“I can’t-”

“Why not?” Alex raises an eyebrow. “Come on, why not?”

Kara stares straight ahead.

“You need an identity outside of Supergirl. You need to be Kara Danvers sometimes, you won’t be happy.”

She’s said as much herself, in better moments.

“Hey, Danvers, you want another one?” Winn’s counting up who wants in on the next round.

Kara’s glass is still half full. “I’m good, thanks.”

“Cool. Alex?”

“Yeah, I’m in.”

“Maggie?”

“Please.”

Shifting her leg so Winn can get up, Kara watches Lyra ask if he wants any help.

There’s nothing aesthetically different about Winn. He’s wearing a neatly fitting sweater and his hair’s tidy and that earnest smile of his is perpetually tucked in the corner of his mouth, it’s all the same.

He moves less, orbiting Lyra, and he’s more precise when he does move. There’s unreserved adoration in his eyes when he looks at her, that sweetness between them James told Kara about tangible. Winn’s comfortable with tactility like she’s never seen- he’s touching Lyra or she’s touching him, no more than a matter of gravity.

All those months ago, when he told Kara he loved her, she made a few connections. It’d been right in front of her; the way he looked at her, how tight his hugs were, some of what he said. It never occurred to Kara how much he’d been holding back. 

Winn presses a kiss to Lyra’s cheek. “I wouldn’t say no to help.”

They go to the bar, and Kara tunes back in to the conversation around her, sipping her club soda. Alex is finishing off Maggie’s beer, watching the verbal tennis match at play.

“All I’m saying is, he’s helped,” James says, relaxing back in his chair. 

“Granted, he has,” Maggie says, “but he’s making arrests boring.”

“That’s better than not making arrests,” Kara suggests, and they all turn to look at her. Kara shrugs. “I’d rather report on the crime rates going down than overstretched police departments.”

“Right.” James’ head tilts to the side, watching her as though he can’t quite decide what she means. 

Maggie thanks Lyra for her beer. “I miss tackling assholes to the ground, okay? It was the best part of my job.”

“He does need to take responsibility for your boredom,” Kara agrees, glancing at James.

Taking his drink too, he catches her eye and nods, smile soft.

She might ask if he wants to train with her every once in a while. He could certainly use an opponent who massively outmatches her- she could find weaknesses in the suit, Winn could strengthen them.

“He should probably be more considerate and take down all the boring criminals,” Alex says. “You could always set a convict loose with a note attached or something; ‘leave the interesting ones’.”

Maggie snorts. “I’m sure my boss would love that.”

“Yeah, and I’m sure the Guardian would appreciate the extra work.”

“Supergirl would probably end up getting the convict first, anyway,” Kara says, and James laughs. “The Guardian’s just a little bit too slow.”

“The Guardian,” Winn says, putting Alex’s bottle in her hand, “has a motorbike.”

“Are you seriously suggesting the Guardian is faster than Supergirl?”

“…he’d catch an escaped convict, no problem,” Winn says, confident.

“We decided a few weeks back he’s got a sidekick,” James tells Maggie.

“Partner, not sidekick,” Kara corrects, and Winn smirks, high-fiving her when Maggie looks the other way.

When Lyra and Winn come back with their own drinks, they’re swopping stories about the first time they got drunk, and the rest of the table joins in.

Alex’s turn starts with her fingers pressing into her temples, trying to squeeze the memory out. Kara prompts her because she remembers more than Alex- they got their hands on the bottle of vodka when Alex was eighteen, and Kara was fine. Alex was not.

Maggie’s pretty unashamed, even though she tells Alex hers isn’t even that bad. It turns out the first time she got drunk was by accident and with her mom. Under the table, they’re holding hands, Maggie playing with the ring on Alex’s middle finger.

Kara looks at the glass in her hand, and it’s three quarters empty. Excusing herself, drink in hand, she wanders up to the bar. Mon-El’s mopping up a puddle of alcohol on the surface.

“How can I help, milady?”

Looking at him, she bites her lip.

She can’t just dive back into being a reporter. No media outlet in the city would take her seriously. She’d have to make a statement, explaining why she posted the article without proper evidence. She’d have to say that she wants to do better than that and she prove herself to be a good reporter. Then, she’d have to keep writing.

Kara Danvers would have to struggle a long, long time to get any recognition again.

Sometimes Kara Danvers feels more real the Supergirl.

“Do you think I should write articles anyway?”

Mon-El frowns. “They won’t publish them, will they?”

“No, but I could blog them.”

“On the interwebs?”

Kara smiles. “Please stop listening to Winn.”

“Got it.” He picks up the dishcloth and carries on soaking up the worst of the mess. “Do you want to?”

“I think so.”

Mon-El shrugs. “Then yeah.”

Swilling the last of her drink around in the bottom of her glass, Kara gestures to it. “Can I have another?”

“On it,” he says, jumping up and leaning over the bar to peck her on the lips.

Looking over her shoulder, Kara sees Winn lean in to kiss Lyra, but they never quite get around to it. Instead, their foreheads touch and they close their eyes, smiling small and real. She’s sure he had no idea he had the capacity to be this happy. He seems blindsided by it.

Mon-El slides her new drink across to her, and it’s nearly spilling over it’s so full.

**Author's Note:**

> I might as well have written ‘dancebreak- I love winn and lyra’ in the middle of this


End file.
